[BOATS] World titles haunt Triple X

by Sean Henshelwood

(Archived)


After a relatively ‘low-key’ start to their 2009 campaigns, Phonsy Mullan, Ted Sygidus and younger brother Darek were looking forward to bigger and better things as the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships moved into part two of the season, although the Cabarita round would provide a number of additional surprises, not the least being the layout..

World Championships haunt Triple X at Cabarita
Rnd#3 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Cabarita Beach, NSW
6-7 June, 2009

After a relatively ‘low-key’ start to their 2009 campaigns, Phonsy Mullan, Ted Sygidus and younger brother Darek were looking forward to bigger and better things as the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships moved into part two of the season, although the Cabarita round would provide a number of additional surprises, not the least being the layout..

“One thing our team relishes is fast open circuits,” Phonsy Mullan admitted prior to opening practice. “Caba is the tightest track on the national circuit, but we’re ready for it. I didn’t make any major changes to the hull of the Unlimited Superboat this time around, although we did do some more diagnostic work on the engine and fiddled a few things, notably the exhausts to try and reduce the sound emissions. We’re up to a comfortable 1300hp now, which is about where we’ll leave it for the time being, that’s easy now and reliable, so now we’re down to chasing boat setup, working on the 9.5” Scott jet unit and making the whole package quicker through the corners..

“Actually it’s funny, but we’re probably on track now to challenge for the Australian title; I thought it would take longer to sort the boat, but it’s performing brilliantly, mind you it’s not as good as our Group A boat, that things is just sensational..”

“He’s not wrong,” Ted Sygidus grinned, “and he [Mullan] better watch out because I’m starting to creep up on some of his best times at the tracks we’re going to now, won’t be long before I’m the one at the top of the tree.. [laughs].”

Whilst not immediately on the pace during the opening day at Cabarita due to dialing their boats in on the tight twisty layout, and in Darek’s case familiarising himself with the layout, all three Triple X drivers figured strongly on the time sheets heading into day two, Phonsy in particular surprising more than a few with the speed and drivability of his Unlimited boat, the Melton GM tuning specialist second quickest in Sunday’s second qualifier.

In Group A both Ted and Darek were dialed in and ready for an assault on the top ten, Ted qualifying fourth and Darek ninth; sadly though only Ted would complete his top ten run and although competitive, it came at a price..

“The main bearing in the jet unit has failed,” Darek admitted afterwards. “It’s basically a maintenance issue in the end and the result of a failure we had in New Zealand earlier in the year. At the time Konrad Scott’s team were on hand there and fixed it, but it was only a patch up job which more than did its job at the time, but relied on us fixing it properly when we got back; that didn’t happen, it was scheduled to be done before now, but with our day jobs taking precedence, we just ran out of time.. Murphy’s Law..”

Despite missing his final run, a DNS by both Slade Stanley and Greg Mercier allowed Darek to maintain his ninth place, whilst Ted’s run in the top ten would still have been good enough for sixth, he still salvaged fourth place points for the weekend though, elevating him to fourth in the championship with two rounds to go.

Whilst the Group A team suffered a DNF, Phonsy Mullan finally had the Unlimited Superboat on the podium having qualified for the final three.

Like the Group A team though, his final run came to a premature end..

“You wouldn’t believe,” Phonsy shrugged afterwards, “like the Group A boat, mine stopped as a result of a problem we had at the world championships; an electrical failure thanks to faulty wires from the engine fire we had just prior to loading the boat in the trailer for NZ. We had been replacing things as matter of course and were due to get to that section shortly; I suppose now we’ll be replacing it sooner than we expected.

“It’s disappointing in the end because despite the nature of the track, we were looking pretty good and might have been able to challenge ‘Excalibur’ for the win.

“Now we’ll go home and do some serious maintenance and prepare the Group A boat for Maryborough in two weeks time, and my boat for our home race at Melton in August.”

The Continental Tyres Superboat Championships now enjoy a slight sabbatical prior to the penultimate round of the season at Maryborough on September 5-6, then the final round of the championship back at Cabarita two weeks later (September 19-20). Triple X Racing continues with state level competition, but it’s another lengthy break before the next round of the Victorian Championships scheduled for their home circuit, Melton on August 21-22.

You can catch all the action from the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships on SBS Speedweek and FOX Sports 'Inside Speed' (check local guides and keep an eye on www.v8superboats.com.au for dates and times).

Triple X Racing are proudly supported by; GM Race Engines, GM Motorsport, SGA Engineering, Ripshift, D.G. Parsons Transport, Gill Engineering, Sign Perfection, Showcase Constructions, Leggett Crane Hire, Tom Matthews Accounting and Big Benna Events.

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2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Unlimited Superboats (drivers points after Rnd#4 of 6)
1. Mick Carroll/Yolanda Low (170), 2. Daryl Hutton/Yvonne Maxwell (169), 3. Phonsy Mullan/Byron Basset (148), 4. Phil Dixon/Ron Dixon (147), 5. Tony Giustozzi/Adrian Kemp (135), 6. Dean Finch/Demi Finch (100), 7. Jamie Welch (93), 8. Louise Dixon/Casie Lack (87), 9. Cheryl Welch/Sandi Whalan (67), 10. Peter Freckleton/Jake Freckleton (61), 11. Andrew Page/Megan Campbell (44), 12. Paul Burgess/Darran Burgess (21), 13. Jody Ely/Peter McKeown (16), 14. Adam Raverty/Chris Pryse (15), 15. Glenn Roberts/Amanda Roberts (5)

International Group A (drivers points after Rnd#4 of 6)
1. Slade Stanley/Vanessa Wright (185), 2. Rohan Smith/Owen Dyball (158), 3. Brooke Dixon/Leanne Rake (145), 4. Ted Sygidus/Kelsie Gill (141), 5. Nathan Pretty/Lincoln Burns (133), 6. Tremayne Jukes/Ruth Webster (120), 7. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (110), 8. Robert Colman/Shane Stewart (105), 9. Darek Sygidus/David Gill (74), 10. Daniel Walton/ Brad Nicolson (58), 11. Mick Manini/Athena Dickson (33), 12. Rodney Krause/Kristy Hamilton (31), 13. Greg Harriman/Adam Doyle (20), 14. Simon Zarb/Peter Keep (15), 15. Tony Whalan/Adrian Kemp (15), 15. Darren Watkins/Brad Saibura (15), 17. Shane Loughnan/Joe Manganaro (10), 17. Damien O’Leary/Carly Nappa (10), 17. Kevin Laugesen/Tiffany Parratt (10), 17. Kieran Krause (10), 21. Brendan Donnelly/Tyson Allen (7), 22. Shaun Dixon (5), 22. Chris Bollins (5), 22. Geoff Kunkel (5)

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